Bridget Thomas is a founder of Kirksville - Protect Our Pets (KV-POP), a non-profit organization dedicated to community outreach for the benefit of the area's pet dogs and cats. KV-POP helps low-income (or no-income) people spay/neuter, train, and tag their pets. Their ultimate goal is to help people care for their pets and thereby reduce the number of animals surrendered to overcrowded shelters. KV-POP also promotes adooption from a local shelter or rescue. She was a board member of the Adair County Humane Society from 2008-2013.

The Adair County Public Library has invited me to serve as discussion leader for their book club meeting at the end of April. We’ll be talking about W. Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans.

This book has been getting extremely positive reviews in many major publications. The ratings on Amazon.com show that most readers really respond to its message about the role dogs play in our lives. There is even an effusive blurb on the front cover from Alice Walker (a Pulitzer Prize-winning author!).

While I understand such enthusiasm – the fact that it’s written from a dog’s point of view is novel and there are certainly many tender moments – my own opinion of the book is more mixed. Which means that we’ll have something to talk about.

I’m not sure why they are promoting this book as a novel, because it’s really a collection of loosely connected short stories about how we live with dogs. (Or that's what it should be.) This format is good for folks who don’t have a lot of free time, because you can participate in the discussion even if you have only read a few chapters.

The discussion takes place on Tuesday, April 23rd at 6:00 PM at the Adair County Public Library in Kirksville. Hope to see many of you there!